Thanks to Eric
by the maids diaries
Summary: For a moment Eric almost screw everything, then Lovejoy realises...
1. Chapter 1

_**N/A: **Thanks Lena, for all your help with this! This is me trying to make one friend feel better and I beleive I'd promised this fic to someone, oh yeah, Tori. xD Hope you all like it.  
_

_**Thanks To Eric**_

He was pleased and to tell the truth it was impossible not to be. The store did well, his debts had finally been settled and the money kept coming. Tinker said he had finally managed to keep himself on an even keel; he still believed it was just a good lucky streak, a streak considerably longer if you think that it had been dragging for the past four years.

Another spring afternoon; a gentle breeze swept the meadows around. He liked the field, the simple life, working in the shop and all his new concerns and responsibilities. He was happy, really happy. And complete. Perhaps he should be out there with Tinker and the boy, but if he didn't finish to recovered the dresser in which he had been working on, it would be his death. And certainly it would be a slow and excruciating death; Jane would handle it personally. Well, in spite of everything, at that time he preferred to stay away from her hormones and their murderous tendencies. Anyway, while he worked he could hear Tinker and the boy laughing outside. More than that, he could see his old friend pretending to be a horse for the little rider on his back, running from one side to the other through the grass. It was impossible not to smile.

And to think that Tinker did not support their idea, called him crazy and believed that it would never work. It was good to prove him otherwise, and even better to see how he had surrendered to the little boy with tangles of black hair like just like Lovejoy's.

Life had been good to him, he could never deny it. He had never laid at the bottom of the well for too long, always having some way to get out of a jam and finding new one by the way. This was Lovejoy, with his scheming in the company of Tinker and Eric, and even if she never accepted to participate in shady deals because she had a high morale and she was a lady, with Jane's help.

Jane; his absolutely perfect Jane. How not to die of love for her? How not to meet her requests and fulfill her orders? How to say no to her? Love, love, and love. There was not even a fight; the first time he saw her, standing in the doorway of Felsham Hall, wearing a fancy dress, smiling prettily at him and properly married, he just surrendered. Jane was amazing like one of the seven wonders of the world, irresistible like the fruit of the poisoned tree and open to admiration like a genuine antique. Jane was a work of art, the most perfect work of art he had laid his eyes on. _"My Jane." _

The sound of tires crunching the gravel caught his attention, causing him to drop the brush on a piece of paper at his side and reach for an old cloth, slightly damp, which he used to rub his hands gently to remove excess of paint moist that them. It was about time they returned. The engine stopped and doors closed.

"Be careful with this Eric!" He heard Jane's voice scolding out there and gave thanks for having sent Eric in his place.

"Ahhh..." Eric screamed and he heard a clatter of things falling on the floor. "Don't do that, Lady Jane; I almost ripped off my thumb!"

Lovejoy stopped by the window. Eric had a piece of a dismantled mobile on his foot, while Jane rolled her eyes at him before bending over with a big smile and collecting Charlie in her arms, kissing and hugging the child. She should not take the child in her arms, much less wear heels, but how to convince her about that? Stubborn woman.

He stayed there observing them with a smile of satisfaction that he could never prevent. A smile that insisted on appearing on his face all day long, every time he saw her. Jane and the boy talked with their foreheads resting together, smiling at one another. His little hands playing with her red hair, just like he did. The two exchanged a peck and the boy ran back to Tinker, who by then had fallen on the grass in exhaustion.

Lovejoy followed her with his eyes as she came in with the heavy footsteps. Jane was all curves inside her silk blouse, open blazer and tight skirt, leaving her pot stomach even more evident, combining wonderfully with her hips and her swollen breasts with which he was inevitably in love. The contrast of her elegant and perfumed form with him, his messy hair and his dirty clothes was quite common and charming.

"Lovejoy, I've found it!" Jane announced through the door.

And there she was, walking among the tables, dodging one after another by a whisker. There was no pregnant woman more beautiful or desirable than her throughout Britain, throughout Europe and worldwide, and never would be.

"Finally some good news then."

Lovejoy felt his smile just grew even more and he opened his arms, hoping that she'd walk right into them as he watched her with love in his eyes and admired her completely. "_Jane, my Jane, and my little Janie too_." Not that she had liked the name he had chosen: after all "Janie" was the loving way he called her. But there was more perfect name for their little girl? Of course not, especially after she had given the name of Charles to the boy. Poor lad.

Jane rolled her eyes, giving him a peck on the lips before turning to the dresser. Hormones, Jane exuded it those days. It was like walking constantly into a minefield and for a woman in her condition she could move pretty fast.

"It's getting nice, dear." Jane commented as she watched his work closely, walking around the dresser. Lovejoy felt relieved.

"Until tomorrow it will be ready."

"And you will be able to start with the crib. It will not need many repairs, is in a great state." She said smiling, full of animation. "I found some more stuff for the room and could not resist bringing something for Charlie and me."

"You promised to check with the shop, Jane."

"I'd tried, I swear I'd tried. But wait until I get rid of this little thing here and return to my normal state. I'm sure you will approve of my purchases. "A provocative smile took her lips as she cast him a look full of promises.

As if he needed that kind of incentive, he thought to himself. Jane really had no idea how desirable she was even with those 10 extra pounds of curves, which was good on one hand, for thus he did not suffer so much with her teasing.

"I'm sure I will, especially if I can examine them closely and maybe even get them off to do so." She was walking around the tables looking for a place to sit, he knew how tired she was and ran to free a chair of the stack of papers that was there. "How are you feeling, Janie?"

"Hungry, my back hurts and I'm about to go to the bathroom for the umpteenth time today. My feet are aching a bit too." Jane said as she sank heavily into the chair, letting out a sigh

"Are you kidding right? My foot is killing me!" Eric came trudging along, carrying the first of the disassembled pieces of the crib. "I do not know how you stand it, Lovejoy. I did it for one day and never again! If she invents something else, I'll stay here working and you'll go with her. I know that I have obligations as a good father, but fighting Jane's hormones is too much!"

"Oh, come on Eric; it wasn't that bad." Jane intervened with a smile. Her reactions were always unpredictable, especially now, only two months before the baby was to be born.

Lovejoy sat on the floor in front of her, removing the heels from her feet and gently massaging them with his fingertips over her thin and delicate socks that surrounded her feet and legs.

"No, it was worse." Eric muttered with a grimace.

"Eric, do not talk like about my ladies," Lovejoy retorted as his hands rose slowly through Jane's ankles and toward her knees, caressing her shapely legs on the way.

The boy rolled his eyes and wet back to the car which trunk was packed to be discharged, leaving them alone again. Jane smiled, leaning towards Lovejoy to hold his face in her hands and bringing it to her, kissing him on the lips.

"After leaving here grumbling because Eric was going to accompany you, do you now love your useless husband?" Lovejoy sneered, kissing her lips one, two, three, four times before sinking his face into the crook of her neck to fell the fragrance of her expensive perfume on her delicate skin. His hands ran up her thighs, reaching her swollen stomach. "Hello Janie."

"Better to deal with your silliness than Eric's; in addition to the fact that we'd missed you, cheeky beggar." She smiled sweetly, resting her hands on top of his on her belly. The girl stirred acknowledging her father's voice and touch. "Traitor, you had ignored me all afternoon as I walked miles in high heels to assemble a lovely room for you, and now you are showing yourself for your dad?"

"That's my girl; show your mother that you prefer me over her."

Jane rolled her eyes and felt his lips kissing her belly over the cool fabric of her blouse. Janie always waved when her father was around, rolling like a goldfish in a tank excited by the noise outside.

"I am even seeing that she will pull up your genius and spend all the time holding on to you; just try not to teach her bad things!" She joked, taking a hand to his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb, causing Lovejoy to close his eyes and tilt his head toward her hand. "There is no need to remind me that your children do not need a mother, I know they only have eyes for you."

"Lie, but if you really want to believe that you need to know that you are all that matters for me. I would be lost without you and those little bats." He kissed her hand, brushing his lips across the palm. "Janie can pull up my genius, but I'm sure she will have your beautiful red hair, your face and one day I will lock her in the basement for having your curves."

"You teach your three-year-old son that he has to enjoy life until he finds his own Jane as his father did, and want to lock your daughter in the basement when she grows up? Where is the justice in that, Lovejoy? How can you be a sexist idiot?"

"What? Do you think I'll leave my baby girl at the mercy of pads like Alexander? Or worse, smart lads like me?"

"You don't want her to have her own Lovejoy?" She stroked her stomach as she looked down, admiring her own gigantic proportions.

"Not if I can help it!" He said slowly rising to her breasts. "My wife is undeniably pregnant, soon to give birth and all I can think about is how crazy I am for her..." A sigh escaped from his lips as he admired the curves of her breasts accentuated by her bra through her blouse. "I can only think of how much I want you here and now."

A wry chuckle escaped Jane's nose and she held him by the hair before he could reach his target, giving him a teasing smile. "And I need to go to the bathroom."

Lovejoy stood up, taking Jane by her hands to help her up.

"The best option is to send her to a convent. What do you think Jane? "He asked as he watched her walk barefoot into the bathroom.

"I think that I'll need to ask Vicky to give you a lecture on how to be a better father to your younger daughter." She looked at him from the bathroom's door, speaking with that tone of one who is full of reason, nodded and disappeared.

"You're being a bad woman!" He yelled for her to hear.

Alone for a moment, Lovejoy turned his attention to the window. Eric had given up trying to unload the trunk of the Land Rover alone. Surely he would ask for Tinker's help when Jane began to scold that they had to start as soon as possible with the crib as she would take Charlie back home driving even though she should not. He should go out and forward the service to return home with them, and maybe even go home with them without listening to her complain about the delay with the room.

It was impossible not to be captured by the image of the boy lying on his back on the grass laughing at the tickles that Eric did on him. Charlie was cheerful and hyperactive, running after them all day since he had started walking on his own. Well, son of his mother, with all his wishes and his eyes extremely blue despite pursuing Lovejoy's appearance in all details.

He was so absorbed that he had not heard the noise of the discharge or the sink and only realized that Jane was back when one of her hands touched his arm. Immediately he brought her closer, leaning her back against his chest as his hands came down to her swollen stomach. Janie was still agitated.

"You're happy, Mrs. Lovejoy?"

"Absolutely." She muttered watching the boy with their friends out there for a few moments before turning in his arms and facing him with those eyes. "And you, still happy, dear?"

"I've never been so happy in my life."

Lovejoy leaned over her, letting his lips touch hers gently before Jane deepened the kiss by pulling him towards her by the neck. The feeling was that he could stay there forever, hugging and kissing the woman he loved, his wife, but something bothered him.

First a squeeze on his arm, followed by another and another. He heard a coughing sound coming from above him, and stretched one arm hitting something. Something? No, someone. Jane's body became cloudy and her forms slowly dissipated, taking with her the sense of warm and comfort he felt. His arms were empty.

He opened his eyes to a blinding light that shone around something that Lovejoy could identify as being someone's head. That was not getting better. He felt his senses weaken, slightly confused; his head might have been spinning a little, or perhaps it was the room. Eric's face was clear ahead.

"Hey Lovejoy, it's almost noon!"

"Was I asleep?"

"What did you think?" Eric spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and indeed it was.

"Aaarrrrrrghhhh" Lovejoy growled loudly, rolling on the couch, catching the sight of an empty bottle on the floor beside the couch and Jane's note on the coffee table. She was gone. The realization weighed on his stomach and he swallowed hard. Everything was just a dream, there were no children, there was no happiness and Jane was not even there anymore.

"I want to kill you Eric." He continued speaking with a discouraged tone, almost defeated. Eric looked at him with curiosity. "Or rather, I want to die."

"I didn't do anything, just woke you up. You'll lose business if you stay here sleeping all day."

"Next time let me sleep! I was having a dream and..." He sat on the couch, picking up Jane's note from the table. His thumb stroked the paper for a moment, forgetting Eric was still there.

"We all miss her."

Lovejoy could see her smile, hear her voice, smell her scent and feel the shape of her body next to his. He did not believe that he had let her go without even trying to fight, without trying to convince her to stay. Tinker was wrong, Jane was to be Mrs. Lovejoy. She was the one, the only one, the right woman for him, his woman, so his. A warm sensation grew in his chest and he suddenly turned to look at Eric with his obstinate stare.

Eric knew that look, sure. Something was going on in the head of his friend and it was something great, he could tell by the brightness and intensity of that look. Lovejoy rose from the couch with a jump and ran into his room screaming:

"Forget everything Eric, I'm going to get my bags."

"Where are you going?" He went after him to the foot of the stairs.

"I will bring Jane back."

Eric swallowed hard, trying to understand it while the sounds of things flying through the room rang clear in his ears. He was giving up the business to go after Jane? At a first thought it was crazy, but then he understood, none of them were fine without her there. Not him, not Tinker, and Lovejoy much less. He went upstairs jumping some steps, and began to collect the clothes that Lovejoy had thrown on the bed, putting it inside his bag.

"So, what you intent to do?"

For a second Lovejoy stopped and turned to his friend. Part of him expected Eric to protest and tell him how crazy he was, but he didn't. Lovejoy smiled broadly and knew everything would be alright.

**THE END**


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: **Thanks to Maple Fay this is readable! Thank you, sweetheart. More chapters to come ;D**  
**

**Chapter 2**

"But Lovejoy, you do not know where she is. How can you be sure you'll find her? "

Eric walked hastily, almost chasing Lovejoy downstairs and out the door. Lovejoy opened the trunk of the car, threw in his just packed suitcase and closed the door with a dry blow.

"Jane may not have told me and may not have told you, but you really think she would leave without telling anyone where she's staying? Use your head and think a little Eric." Lovejoy nudged Eric's head with one finger. The young lad followed him from one side to the other, till Lovejoy opened the car's door and slipped down to the accent.

Eric furrowed his eyebrows, in an earnest expression. Fine lines appeared on his forehead and he began to nod slowly after long seconds; his mouth ajar.

"Do you think she said to..." Eric said slowly, in sync with his slow-witted.

"Exactly!" the car's door closed and Lovejoy started the engine. "Are you coming?"

* * *

"Do you think he will tell us if he knows where she is?" Eric asking, taking the Walkman out of his back pocket while he accommodated himself better in seat. He wrapped the wire away and put the player in glove compartment.

"I don't know! If he knows, as I think he knows, the question is: why hasn't he told me?" Lovejoy stepped deeper into the throttle, kicking up dust as they moved down the road as fast as the car could and not as fast as he wished.

"She may have asked him not to tell you." Eric said absentmindedly stirring the tapes he was carrying, pulling them out from only God knows where. "I don't know, Tinker has been strange since she's gone, even before ..." he commented with his dispersed tone; analyzing the tapes one by one.

"I think Tinker is protecting her."

"Protecting Lady Jane of what?"

"Not of what, but against whom. Tinker thought I might do something stupid and end up hurting Jane."

"You have a history and so cannot blame him, can you?" Eric and Lovejoy exchanged a momentary glance.

"He should have trusted me more, Eric." Lovejoy muttered, speeding up the car a little further, forcing the engine dangerously. Tinker should have trusted him, he knew, he always knew, then why do it? A mixture of resentment and sadness grew slowly. Nothing good, better hurry.

"If you say so... But how you will make him talk? If Lady Jane asked him not to tell you, he will surely keep it secret." Eric finally seemed to find the tape he wanted, letting the others slip from his lap to the seat of the car loudly.

"You'll see." Lovejoy said in a definitive tone, clutching the steering wheel.

The car's tape deck strangely snapped and loud music started playing when Eric finally got the contraption to work; Lovejoy's face contorted into a grimace.

_"It's been raining since you left me, now I'm drowning in the flood, you see I've always been a fighter, but without you I give up, now I can't sing a love song, like the way it's meant to be, well I guess I'm not that good anymore, but baby that's just me."_

As if the lyric was not depressed and desperate enough for him, Eric was still singing distractedly, as loud as the radio.

"Turn it off!" Lovejoy shouted louder than the sound.

"Why?"

"Just turn it off!" Lovejoy would see Jane in a few hours, or his name was not Lovejoy.

* * *

They came together in the pub, making the bell at the door ring. Lovejoy looked around, finding Tinker sitting at one table with his drink almost finished swaying in his hands. Tinker had his eyes fixed on the window, looking at some point outside. Eric was right on something for a change, Tinker seemed more distracted than usual.

"Two, please." Lovejoy asked the bar, receiving two beers from the bartender.

"What will you do, Lovejoy?"

"Be honest." he muttered in response, moving away from Eric and heading straight to the table.

"That I need to see." Eric said to himself, hurrying to reach Lovejoy.

"Tell me the truth Tinker." Lovejoy said, sitting in front of his friend, the beers on the table.

Tinker turned his gaze to him, staring at him for long seconds; he sighed and looked down at his drink. Eric sat and watched the melancholy in the older man's eyes and the challenge in Lovejoy's. They were acting like a parent concerned about his daughter and a Don Juan whatsoever. All for Lady Jane. He felt overwhelmed by the momentary excitement, it would be interesting, no doubt, like a new movie in the theater or something.

"What truth do you want Lovejoy?"

"Where is Jane." he said flatly, staring at his old friend.

Tinker gave a mocking laugh, showing his grief. The impression he gave Lovejoy was that he blamed him for Jane's departure and this stirred Lovejoy. It was a low blow. She hadn't leaved because of him, had she? Jane wanted a career, a new life, she felt free and wanted to take the opportunity to grow personally and professionally, was not that?

_"I'll miss you."_ she told him. If she would miss him it was because she still liked him. But how? As a friend? As a person? As a man?

"You know where she is, don't you?" He urged, giving Tinker a deep look.

Tinker did not move, merely looked out the window again, his thoughts far away. Of course he knew where she was. Eric looked at his face and showed that he was sorry, as if the battle was already lost.

"Tinker, this is not about me and Jane, but it's about me, you and Eric and how unhappy we are since she went away. Will you tell me that she is happy away from home and us?"

"No matter how we are, we'll make it. We cannot force her to stay and not follow her own plans because we want her here. This is selfish Lovejoy."

Lovejoy stared at him with his mouth ajar, unable to believe his ears. After all he had done for them, for Jane, for anyone! He considered himself far too many things, much of them not so good, but not a selfish person, and it was not selfish to want her back, wish she could understand that her place was there with him, as his wife, having his children and... Yes, it was selfish, he assumed in thought defeated, but that did not diminish the quality of his intentions.

"So I'm selfish, I need my woman back here!" his voice sounded louder than he expected and people looked at him with curiosity. Where that came from? Jane was not technically his woman, well, just because Eric came up with that damn motorcycle and...

"Lovejoy..." Eric tried to intercede, but Lovejoy just kept talking, with the lowest tone again, staring directly Tinker, demonstrating that meant every word.

"Listen. I have thought of everything Jane told me, in her explanations and all that doesn't make sense. One minute everything was fine, then Alex showed up broke and she decided to leave suddenly. She liked to be married, she liked our business, she was getting used to be single again and suddenly he…" Lovejoy restrained himself when he thought again about Alexander, preventing his own words to come out in a nothing polite way. "Alex came back asking for the house and..." he drummed his fingers on the table in a nervous gesture. "I think Jane was afraid."

Tinker nodded, drinking the rest of his drink at once. The empty glass hit sharply on the table top and he looked at Lovejoy.

"She was afraid of you."

"Not me, of us. I mean, the two of us as a couple." Was it so difficult to understand that? Why not just say where she was? He was losing precious time with this discussion. The problem was between him and Jane, not between him and Tinker. And since when Tinker had resolved to be protective towards Jane?

"I told you that the last thing I want for Jane was that she changed from Lady Felsham for Mrs. Lovejoy."

"I know, and it is no demerit. We were meant to be, otherwise we wouldn't have..."

"You wouldn't have what?" Tinker pressed. The tension in the air was tangible.

"Oh no, you did?" Eric's eyes widened, knocking down part of his beer on the table, shocked.

"We did what?" Lovejoy felt exasperated, what they were talking about anyway? They looked like children speaking in half, avoiding the issue directly.

"You know, Lovejoy. A man, woman, naked..."

The suggestive smile on Eric's lips was enough. Lovejoy hit his head on the table, his patience finally exhausted.

"Have you slept together?" The seriousness in the voice of Tinker was impressive.

"No! We have not slept together! And this is none of your concern, is it?"

"You're right, it's not, but I just don't want Jane to get hurt even more, Lovejoy."

"And you think that's what I want to do? Bring her back to sleep with her and leave her? I love her. For the first time in a long time I can tell I really love someone, I love her."

They faced each other and Eric stared at his beer. The silence that fell upon them was uncomfortable at first, but gradually their spirits calmed down and Lovejoy sniffed, feeling inevitably defeated. They would never believe him.

"And she loves you." Tinker said finally, in a softer tone as well.

"So you have spoken to her!" Eric smiled happy, starting a busy monologue, which Lovejoy had not heard a single word.

Eric had intruded before Lovejoy could say something, even before he was able to process the information, the confirmation of his own questionings. He felt oddly at peace and momentarily deaf. Eric and Tinker were still talking, but he was away, far, far away, despite not knowing exactly where.

He was in the same place as Jane, looking into her eyes, feeling small and curvilinear forms in his arms, their lips close and the feeling of eternal happiness, endless. Suddenly his dream did not seem quite so impossible, didn't seem a dream.

"Why are you smiling?" Eric's voice combined with a nudge brought him back.

"His head is far away." Tinker noted accurately, with the knowledge and experience that only an older man could have.

"Where is my head, Tinker? Where it should be?" Lovejoy asked abruptly; he needed to now, he needed to go after her.

"It should be at..."

**TBC...**

**Reviews are precious gold ;P**


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